Saharawi Protest Camp Attacked; Several Killed, Hundreds Injured

November 8, 2010 - 7:33pm -- jim

In the early hours of Monday morning the Moroccan security forces razed the Sahararwi protest camp containing 20,000 people to the ground. Several were killed and hundreds injured. Riots are erupting in El Auoun and could spread.

A fortnight ago whilst on a tour of the region ahead of new round of
informal talks between the two sides in one of the world's longest
running conflicts, UN special envoy for the Western Sahara
Christopher Ross stressed that there was a "need to lessen
tensions and avoid any incident that could worsen the situation or
hamper discussions.” Two short weeks later and Western Sahara is
ablaze, both literally and metaphorically. In the early hours of
Monday morning Moroccan security forces moved in to remove an
estimated 20,000 Saharawi protesters from the makeshift protest camp
where they had been living for the past month. The tented city was
reportedly razed to the ground amid unconfirmed reports that several
people were killed, and scores injured. Violent clashes between
Saharawi's and Moroccan forces have been reported across El Aaiun,
Western Sahara's capital.

The camp, know as Gdeim Izik, was set up on 9th
October and attracted Saharawi protesters from
surrounding cities demanding improved housing and
employment opportunities. Moroccan forces were quick to
surround the camp and over the past month there had been a number of
clashes between protesters and the police, the most serious being the
killing of a 14 year old boy shot dead by Moroccan forces as he
travelling towards the Gdeim Izik in a car.

Journalists were banned from entering the camp and at the weekend three Spanish
MPs attempting to visit the camp were refused entry to the country.
The Moroccan authorities obtained a court order to remove the camp
and at around 6am on Monday morning the army moved in using tear gas,
and high pressure hoses to clear the protesters. “Everyone is being
attacked, children, women, men, the elderly” the Saharawi human
rights organisation, Sahara Thawra, reported on their website on
Monday morning. “They are destroying the tents and part of the
camp is burning.”

Meanwhile in New York, the UN-brokered 'talks about talks' that were due to
take place on Monday and Tuesday were “delayed”. Amid angry
recriminations the UN envoy for the Polisario Front described the
Moroccan action as "a deliberate act to wreck the talks."

During his tour of the region, his fourth trip to the region since becoming
special envoy in January 2009, Christopher Ross had described the
current impasse over Western Sahara as "untenable". Last
week Martin Nesirky, Ban Ki Moon's spokesperson, said resolving the
conflict was a "priority for the United Nations". But if a
resolution is to be found this rhetoric must be matched by action.
The Moroccan occupation has been allowed to continue in breach of
international law and of UN resolutions for over 35 years and the
UN's peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara remains the only
contemporary peacekeeping mission without a mandate to monitor human
rights.
Despite many attempts to break the long-running diplomatic stalemate,
progress towards a resolution has been tortuously slow with the
Polisario Front being unprepared to negotiate away their legitimate
right to self-determination, Morocco rejecting any proposal that
contains even the possibility of independence, and the Security
Council unwilling to enforce its own resolutions to hold a referendum
on self-determination. History has shown that a political solution
will be the only way forward and the international community will
have an important role and responsibility in helping ensuring
negotiations take place.

Fifty years ago next month, the United Nations adopted Resolution 1514
which stated that all people have a right to self-determination and
that colonialism should be brought to a speedy and unconditional end.
Half-a-century later the Saharawi people are still waiting for
Resolution 1514 to be applied in Western Sahara. It has been a long
wait but as Martin Luther King said, the arc of history may be long
but it always bends inevitably towards justice.